California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly and State Board of Equalization districts every tenyears, to reflect the new federal census population data.
In November 2008, California voters passed the Voters FIRST Act, authorizing the creation of...

California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly and State Board of Equalization districts every tenyears, to reflect the new federal census population data.

In November 2008, California voters passed the Voters FIRST Act, authorizing the creation of The Citizens Redistricting Commission (the Commission) to draw new district lines, taking the job out of the hands of legislature and giving it to the citizens. Prior to 2008, California legislators drew the district lines.In 2010, the Voters FIRST Act for Congress added the responsibility of drawing Congressional districts to the Commission.

The Act requires the California State Auditor, an independent non-partisan entity, to initiate an application process for selecting the members of the Commission.

In conformity with strict, non-partisan rules designed to create districts of relatively equal population and with the goal of providing fair representation for all Californians.The Commission will draw the district boundaries for 53 Congressional Districts, 40 State Senate districts, 80 Assembly districts and four State Board of Equalization districts.

The Commission will be comprised of 14 members –five members who are Democrats, five members who are Republicans and four members who are either Decline to State or with another party.

Registered voters are eligible to serve on the Commission if they have been continuously registered in California with the same political party, or with no political party, for the five years immediately prior to being appointed to the Commission; and they have voted in at least two of the last three statewide general elections.

A voter may not serve on the Commission if the voter or a member of their immediate family has been appointed to, elected to, or been a candidate for a California congressional or state office; served as an officer,employee, or paid consultant of a California political party or of the campaign committee of a candidate for California congressional or elective state office; or has been a registered lobbyist.

California citizens may submit an application to the California State Auditor’s Office through theState Auditor’s redistricting website during the initial 60-day application period fromJune 10, 2019, to August 9, 2019.

Applicants who affirm in their applications that they meet all of the qualifications in the Act to serve on the Commission, and do not have a conflict of interest, will be invited to submit a supplemental application containing additional information about their qualifications.

An Applicant Review Panel consisting of three independent auditorswill thenlead the selection process.

Once the panel has reviewed all applications, the panel will select 120 of the “most qualified applicants,” who the panel will then personally interview in Sacramento, California. These 120 applicants will be evenly divided into three sub-pools according to party affiliation.From the 120 applicants who are interviewed, the panel will select 60 of the most qualified applicants (evenly divided into three sub-pools according to party affiliation).

The panel then will present the 60 names to four legislative leaders for review. Each of these legislative leaders may remove up to two applicants from each of the sub-pools. The final applicant pool is then sent to the State Auditor, who randomly draws from the names remaining in the three sub-pools: three applicants who are Democrats, three applicants who are Republicans and two applicants who are either Decline-to-State or with another party. These eight applicants shall become the first eight members of the Commission, and they will then complete the selection process by selecting the final six members of the Commission.

Working together the Commission willapprove four maps; one for the Congressional districts, one for State Senate districts, one for the State Assembly districts and one for the State Board of Equalization districts. Once the Commission has approved the four final maps, the maps are certified to the Secretary of State with a report explaining the basis on which the Commission made its decisions.